Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is a book written by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault. It is a great book. Right now we read the board book version, Chicka Chicka ABC, which is a little bit shorter and more appropriate. I highly recommend both.

I like these books for many reasons. The rhythm and rhyming are very catchy. There are so many activities you can do after reading, from preschool to kindergarten level. I found this particular activity here: http://lalymom.com/2014/06/chicka-chicka-boom-boom-tree-activity.html#_a5y_p=2012626

Supplies: green and brown construction paper, magnetic alphabet letters, book

I cut out and mounted the coconut tree last night. When Monkey came down in the morning he noticed right away and was very curious. Later on when I got out the letters and the book, he knew right away that it was the coconut tree.

We dumped out the letters and I flipped them all over so Monkey wouldn't be too confused. Then I started reading the book. As I said each letter - really, as we said each letter together, Monkey knows most of the words - he found the magnetic letter and put it up on the door. 

I tried to convince him to spread them out and put them on the leaves of the tree but as you can see he wasn't interested. Obviously he felt it was necessary to do it this way. I'm working on letting go of control and letting him do things his way. He will learn more that way because its more meaningful to him. 

This was done very carefully and methodically, constantly adjusting and perfecting the placement of each letter. Hmmmm, I wonder who he gets that from? Some of the letters are sideways or upside down - I think that was because he wanted them to fit as close together as possible. 

By the end of the book, all the letters have made their way into the coconut tree. Or in our case, beside it...

Then, of course, as the name suggests, BOOM, BOOM!! They all fall down.

All that hard work thrown to the ground in a second. But isn't that the best part?

Mar